Worthy of the Legends
by The Overscore
Summary: Aside from the occasional summon, the eidolons are left to their own devices in the dimension they originated in. Some play Tetra Master, some bicker over who's stronger, and others just sleep. Not much else to do, considering their circumstances, but they all find a way to keep themselves entertained. ...Except Atomos, who doesn't give a crap about entertainment.
1. Normal

**A/N**: _Hey! :D __This is my first fanfic for FFIX (well, first fanfic ever) and I really have no idea what I'm doing... (Hint, review! :D) But this story isn't really a structured one. It's just going to be a collection of stories about eidolons and my take on their interactions with one another (okay okay, I know that eidolons are just phantoms generated from legends but that doesn't mean that they can't have personalities! D:). As such, this whole fic will probably not be canon, but I'll try my best. I guess this is more of an entertainment fic than an insightful one, to be completely honest; I'm just not that good with profound material that connects with the original plotline, I guess. Marking it under the "humor" genre might not be the best choice, as I'm not especially talented in writing funny stories, but whenever I write for the sake of entertainment, I end up slipping some of my attempts at humorous writing into the story. Oh well._

_Please review if you have any criticism or comments. I love feedback (then again, who doesn't?) and would greatly appreciate any amount of it!_

_Oh, and one last thing; in this first chapter, there's some swearing, but I don't think it's enough to make this an M fic. Hopefully everyone agrees ._. But yeah, hope you enjoy. If the ideas keep coming to me, I'll keep the fic going._

_...Oh, and I guess I should include a disclaimer..._

**Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX and its characters are property of Square Enix, and I do not own any of said property. This disclaimer holds true for this entire story; I don't want to place this at the beginning of every single chapter.****  
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* * *

Inside the emptiness of the realm, it was dark. Darker than night, but not quite as dark as nothingness. If one were to strain their eyes to the point of head-ache induction, they'd be able to make out little wisps of a mist-like substance, permeating the seemingly endless void with an air of casual indifference. Flitting here, flitting there, always gracefully moving in a mysteriously beautiful tempo in-tandem with the rest of its counterparts. Using the darkness to augment its mystical nature, the wisps would creep into the path of one's vision before dancing away with finesse unmatched by Alexandria's finest entertainers. Unnaturally elegant, the ethereal threads were the epitome of rhythmical charm.

It was dark. The wisps kept dancing, and the seemingly unending nature of the realm weighed down on the atmosphere of the area like a bag full of bricks. To say it was tense would be a misuse of the word, but one wouldn't be able to deny the feeling of anxiety that accompanied the unknown. What could be hiding in this dark expansive realm? Anything could be lurking around, waiting for an opportunity, and danger had the ability of springing out when you were least prepared. …But the darkness was calm. It was infinite; it didn't care about danger or other such trivial things. One could not conquer the omnipresent darkness with a couple acts of violence. The darkness would continue, and the acts of violence would become meaningless in the face of infinite obscurity. There was no question as to what ruled this realm.

The dark may have been the absolute end-all be-all of the realm, but the wisps provided the realm with meaning, with personality. A feeling of security, in knowing that there was in-fact something in the vast void. While the darkness gave off an aura of solitude and an unmatched solemnness, the wisps were the playful pixies that managed to decorate their world with something that complemented the abyss. Coupled with the wisps, one could almost say that the darkness provided a certain kind of peace. One that would give you relief, banishing your trivial worries and admonishing you for being so stressed out over problems that didn't matter. Reminding you that there are no problems here; only the wisps and a sense of eternity.

Darkness isn't always a bad thing. It is capable of providing comfort and rest to world-weary travelers. The atmosphere in the realm may have been slightly unnerving, but only for the briefest of moments. It was safe here; peaceful and dark.

…That is, until Ifrit entered back into the realm.

"Yo, who the fuck turned off the lights?!"

Following up his angry outburst with an attempt at illuminating the area with a blast of flames, he began ranting to the inhabitants of the mysterious realm.

"Damn, I leave for one minute and the party's over? Bring out the cards again! That last game was a fluke, ya hear me?"

There were no responses from the dark expanse, but this didn't seem to discourage the hulking beast. A flurry of hellish energy escaped Ifrit's form, scattering in beautiful symmetry before arcing upwards to converge on a single point. The wisps seemed to sense the power gathering in the slightly illuminated area and responded with an increase in the speed of their intriguing dance. They began writhing furiously, as if knowing that their existences were about to be changed forever.

"Bring out the cards! …Or I'm gonna throw this at one of you!" A childish outburst, backed by some intense firepower. Ifrit hated losing in Tetra Master and always demanded rematches until he won a game. After which he'd do a victory dance while laughing in his deep, beast-like voice.

"No one!?" He was shrieking now. "Absolutely no one?" And still, no other eidolon spoke up. All that Ifrit could see were the wisps. "Don't say I didn't warn you!" And with that, Ifrit let loose his sphere of destruction. He watched in satisfaction as it proceeded to explode in a terrifying display of raw power.

Despite Ifrit's nigh-complete lack of vision, Bahamut was hit head on with said explosion. The dragon woke up in a confused daze as he continued to snort the graceful dancing wisps out of his nostrils, the wisps mimicking his emotions in an almost comical fashion as they danced angrily around his head.

Ifrit may have been able to hit an eidolon with his act of childish fury, yet it was the eidolon he hated messing with the most (well, barring Madeen, of course. No one liked messing with Madeen). He was able to dodge the beam of energy coming his way at the last moment, but Bahamut wasn't done. One Mega Flare, two Mega Flares, three Mega Flares… Rude awakenings probably weren't high up on Bahamut's list of favorite things.

Ifrit ceased his tough-guy act and proceeded to sprint as fast as he could away from the awakened dragon, probably following the flawed logic that if Bahamut couldn't see him, the dragon would forget the situation and go back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, Bahamut had no intention of falling asleep any time soon. With a slight stumble in his step, Bahamut unfurled his wings and leapt into the air while shooting white flames from his opened maw.

Even if Ifrit was the eidolon that embodied the nature of fire, he was still susceptible to the white-hot fire Bahamut occasionally breathed. "Not even hell can compete with the flames of a dragon king," Shiva had once mockingly told him. (He made sure to beat the crap out of the stupid fairy after that remark.)

"I AM GOING TO TORCH YOUR ASS, YOU INSOLENT WHELP," Bahamut intoned in-between breaths of fire.

"Ahh, shit…" Ifrit muttered.

* * *

Shiva watched the amusing quarrel between the King of Dragons and the fiery beast, and nudged Ramuh beside her. "I _told_ you Ifrit would make an entrance like that,"

Ramuh shrugged. "I never said he'd do anything different; we all know Ifrit hasn't matured,"

Shiva scoffed. "Maybe he's being influenced by that monkey boy; both are stupid beyond belief and both treat Tetra Master like the meaning of existence,"

"Zidane isn't stupid. Plays cards a lot, but he isn't stupid. He's just… Impulsive," Ramuh nodded knowingly. "Ifrit, on the other hand, has dogshit for brains and attempts to prove otherwise with his 'skill' at Tetra Master."

"Funny how Sarah summoned him right after he lost a round,"

"You'd think he'd know better than to use 5 of his own card. Self-absorbed little bastard," Ramuh laughed heartily.

Shiva continued to watch the unfolding spectacle, reveling in every painful beating that Bahamut delivered to the moronic beast. Watching Ifrit get his ass burned (literally) never got old.


	2. A Befitting Name

**A/N: ** _This chapter is dedicated to shyboywriter, who was my first reviewer! :D Thanks for reviewing, bro! But yeah, here's the second chapter in this story. I've been editing it for the past three days, and I think it's acceptable as a new chapter. Now, I'll be the first to say it; I'm awful at science. Physics? Failed it. Chemistry? Barely passed. Biology? Dropped out of that stupid class (sorry for you biology lovers; I couldn't stand that class XD). So, anything that I'm writing in this story that sounds even_ remotely_ scientific is almost always going to be wrong. I'm not good at incorporating real science in my writing, because... Well, I suck at science XD_

_And just to clarify from the last chapter, yes, the "dancing wisps" were just smoke remnants coming from Bahamut's nostrils when he slept. ...Hey, you can't blame me for trying to make "the realm" more mysterious than it actually is ^_^ I hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to review :D_

* * *

The eidolons resided in a mysterious realm. If one were to stare out into the distance, they would see nothing except the expanse of the area. There didn't seem to be any references of height, either; it was almost as if they were perpetually floating. If an eidolon wanted to move, they could move in any direction they pleased, be it up, down, backwards, forwards, or any other direction they could think of. (Some eidolons, namely Carbuncle, found it amusing to move along the circumference of an imaginary epicycle.)

The lighting was inconsistent, and seemed to change at the drop of a hat; bright one moment, pitch black the next. The eidolons never bothered with attempting to find the source of light, for the light seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time; another indicator, along with the lack of restrictions on movement, that their realm didn't abide by the Gaian laws of physics. Depending on the lighting, the color of the environment ranged from the purest, most blinding white to the deepest black. It was almost as if the eidolons were placed on a painting that consisted of a single color on the grayscale. Bland, boring, infinite. It was somewhat cliché for an immaterial world.

There were other objects of interest in the realm, though; one group of such objects were tenuous strands of colorful energy that flitted through the air every once in a while. Ramuh's guess was that they were forgotten memories lost in the annals of time, given physical appearances in the realm. (Ramuh believed that any legend, memory, or entity created from a legend or memory was given a physical appearance in the realm. He could not back up his belief, however.) He believed that the forgotten memories were attempting to find their way to a place where they could be remembered again. There were no other plausible ideas about the strands, so the other eidolons just went ahead and agreed with him. The only other conjecture was Ifrit's; he thought they were remnants of Bahamut's snorts, left out in the air for so long they'd rotted and changed colors. No one paid attention to him. Whenever Shiva heard Ifrit talking about the forgotten memories, she'd roll her eyes and swear that the first person who came up with his legend was drunk, crazy, or crazy drunk.

There were also physical illusions that materialized in the realm every now and then. All of the illusions could be mistaken for real, for they appeared at their feasibly acceptable sizes, could be touched and interacted with as if they were real, and made all the necessary actions (if they were illusions of living beings) that were accepted as normal among their kind. The only difference between the illusions and what they were representing was that the illusions weren't permanent; they disappeared after a brief period of time.

Some illusions took the form of Gaians, animatedly gesturing to unseen beings. Some showed up as monsters, both ancient and newly discovered, snarling and roaring and swiping menacingly while doing other such monster-like things. The most interesting illusions, however, were the ones that mimicked scenery. Broken castles, sandy deserts, dense forests, barren wastelands, calm lakes, mountain paths, quaint villages; there were too many types to count. These environmental illusions always provided the eidolons with scenery other than the dull, monochromatically-colored landscape. No one seemed to have an explanation as to why the illusions appeared; they were just a part of the realm.

The unique movement properties of the realm, as well as the illusions that appeared and the "forgotten memories" flashing in and out of existence made the realm a special place. A place unlike any other in the entire universe. Ramuh thought that the realm was the combined consciousness of every summoner who had ever lived, whose souls, instead of cycling through to the Iifa tree, went… Somewhere else to create the realm. He admitted that there were many holes in his hunch.

The eidolons had been discussing what to call the realm. Most of them simply referred to it as "here", since the vast majority of their time was spent wandering around in the unnamed expanse, and here would almost always indicate the realm. However, the eidolons quickly tired of the ordinary word. Alexander was also grounded in Gaia, so "here" to him could've meant two things. This led to the eidolons gathering in a conference to rename the realm.

"Big damn world of nothing," Ifrit tried.

After a couple of disapproving glares from the rest of the eidolons, he backed down.

"How about the Nexus?" Madeen suggested.

The eidolons looked at each other, and some of them seemed to like the name. The realm did in fact serve as a central linking point for the eidolons, as the definition of "Nexus" defined the word. Bahamut, however, spoke up against it. "The word 'Nexus' sounds like something that would appear in Garland's vocabulary. I say scrap it,"

Alexander, an eidolon that rarely ever spoke, began to laugh. Deep, throaty, and rocky, the laugh boomed from the massive castle-like eidolon. Bahamut narrowed his eyes and sighed. He knew what was coming. "Anything remotely resembling Garland's mindset upsets you, little dragon. Maybe because you were his temporary slave?"

"Quiet. It was not Garland who used the Invincible against me, it was Kuja. And I've heard from the others that you fell victim to the Invincible as well,"

Alexander stopped laughing. "That was after I kicked your scaly ass back to this place,"

"Whatever, no one gives a shit about you two. More names. Come on, chop chop!"

Bahamut and Alexander both faced Ifrit threateningly. "…What? I was joking! Can't you guys take a joke? The others want to get on with this discussion,"

"For once, he's right," Ramuh grudgingly admitted. Bahamut crossed his arms and quieted while Alexander stood motionless as usual.

"HOW ABOUT DOCKING STATION," Ark spoke up.

"How about no,"

Shiva sighed. "What Ifrit means to say is that not all of us are fashioned after machines, so 'docking station' seems a little impersonal to us,"

"NO DOCKING STATION?"

"No goddamn docking station,"

"Ifrit!" Shiva scolded.

"What!? I'm just voicing the opinions of the others!" Shiva sighed and closed her eyes. Ifrit's childishly crass nature never ceased to amaze her.

"How about 'Home'?" Phoenix offered.

All of the eidolons paused. It seemed to be a step up from "here" in terms of complexity, and it had a nice, soft edge to it. Ifrit, for once, was quiet. Fenrir was sitting motionlessly, with Titan right beside him, and it seemed like Titan liked the name. Phoenix preened her feathers calmly.

Ramuh clapped his hands. "Alright then! Does 'Home' sound good to you all? Any objections?"

"I'm a home," Alexander grumbled.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Shiva put her head in her hands.

Bahamut grimaced and began blowing smoke rings.

"Hey, how about you, Atomos? Whaddya think? Come up with a name for us?" Carbuncle playfully hopped towards the enormous eidolon, seemingly oblivious to the setback in creativity that was just experienced.

Atomos yawned.

Carbuncle pouted. "…Hey, this is important ya know! What, you bored?"

Atomos's mouth opened wider.

Shiva gasped. "That's it!" The other eidolons turned to her (except Atomos, that is) and silently encouraged her to relay her supposed epiphany. "We should call this place 'Boredom'!"

The eidolons looked unimpressed.

"No, I'm serious! Besides the illusions, all of us are bored out of our minds here. We love being summoned, correct? Anything to escape the boredom. And that's what this place is; boredom! Think of what this could lead to! If a Gaian somehow wanders into this place, although I have no idea how they would do such a thing, we could say…" Shiva bowed with a flourish, "Welcome, to Boredom."

Ifrit scoffed. "Only males bow, you stupid fairy,"

Shiva silenced him with a cold stare. "Sexist fucking _pig_," she spat.

"Uhh, I'm actually a ram, thank you very much,"

"I like it," Madeen said.

"WHAT?!" Ifrit gawped. "The name's lame as hell!"

"Yeah, you _are_ pretty lame," Shiva declared.

"Yo, quit it with the stupidass word-play!"

And so it was decided that the realm of illusions, the realm of monochromatic colors, the realm of eidolons, would be named "Boredom". Ifrit complained until Bahamut scorched his rear.


	3. Social Treatment

**A/N: **_The third chapter is here! Before we get started though, I guess I should get a few things straight. I have decided to make Phoenix and Carbuncle girls. Since I've been referring to Shiva and Madeen as female and Ifrit, Bahamut, and Ramuh as male, it'd feel a little weird if I made all the other eidolons "its". Now I know that Carbuncle has always been called an "it" throughout the series, but I want to give it more character :( So I made Carbuncle a girl! (I also feel like there was one moment in an FF where Carbuncle was called a "he" but I don't remember which one it was and I might just be dreaming. But even if this is the case, I don't care XD Carbuncle is a girl in my story!) And as for Phoenix, I have no idea if it was given a gender in any previous Final Fantasies, but whatever; I'm making her a girl as well ^_^_

_I've also been referring to Dagger/Garnet as Sarah. For those of you who completed the little Eidolon Wall sidequest, you'll know that Dagger's original name is Sarah; before she came to Alexandria, her biological parents called her by this. Since this is the name that was given to her when she lived as a fledgling summoner, I feel like the eidolons she borrows power from would call her by the name they've remembered her as; not by the name she's been given as a child who was to take the place of the Alexandrian royalty's dead daughter. That's just me though! And hey, I already know that eidolons probably don't have emotions since they're created and defined by their legends, but if I went by that, I wouldn't have a story to tell. ...I've went on long enough. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)_

* * *

Odin hardly ever talked. He was an eidolon of dark silence. An eidolon that was hardened by countless battles; one that was known for bringing quick deaths to all. Zantetsuken was a name feared throughout history and its wielder's name was used only in the darkest of threats. When Odin was summoned, he got the job done as quickly as possible.

He wasn't much for social company.

"Hey Odin, whatcha doin'?" Carbuncle was floating lazily around his head in an attempt to get his attention. Odin stood stoically, trying to block out the sudden interruption in his thoughts. A look of irritation flitted across his face as Carbuncle drew closer in. "Come on, don't be like that!" Carbuncle pouted and hovered in front of Odin's eyes. Much to her chagrin, Odin closed them.

Carbuncle sighed. Odin was always like this; just brooding and thinking and frowning away, never speaking or cursing or making an attempt to articulate anything, and it disturbed her. In an attempted act of intervention, she tried to tickle Odin's nose with her tail. Big mistake.

"Owowowowowow hey leggo leggo! That's my tail you're pulling!"

Odin grunted and let go of the tiny eidolon's tail.

"Geeeez what was that for?!" Carbuncle winced and gingerly touched her tail. Odin crossed his arms and called Sleipnir over, mounting him mid-gallop. The act was graceful, but at the same time it was an apparent show of intense focus and unparalleled riding skill. "Stupid showoff," Carbuncle muttered under her breath. "…Hey, not even a goodbye? What the heck, man! Wait for me!"

Odin hardly ever talked because he rarely found it useful to do so. Verbal communication got in the way. All he needed was a beseeching cry from Sarah, and he'd be given a short amount of time to do whatever it took to get rid of the threat. No other communication was needed. He never needed to respond with words; his devastating attacks usually spoke for themselves.

For as long as he could remember, he never really talked to anyone. This included the rest of the eidolons residing in Boredom; even if they were around him every moment of his existence, they still provided him with no reason to open up. The only being that Odin regularly talked to was Sleipnir, but most of the time he didn't even need to; Sleipnir seemed to know his thoughts before he could even voice them aloud. He felt as if Sleipnir was an extension of him; another being who was included along in his legend as the ultimate steed and his only companion. Even if Sleipnir could not respond through speech, he responded in other intriguing ways, such as a twitch of the ears, the occasional sharp whinny, a certain look in his eyes, and many other methods of communication. Sometimes, Odin could swear that the quick, heavy breaths heaving through Sleipnir's body were bouts of laughter.

Other than Sleipnir, however, Odin found no interest in talking to anyone or anything. Carbuncle was no exception.

"You dimwitted, uncaring, socially inept butthead! I was talking to you, for crying out loud!"

Odin grumbled in annoyance. _By the beards of every goddamned Ramuh-imposter living on Gaia, I swear I'm gonna rip this stupid floating dog apart…_

"When someone is talking to you, you look them in the eyes, okay? The _eyes_!" Carbuncle nodded sternly. Odin didn't miss the obvious implications of the other eidolon using such child-like language. "When someone asks you a question, you answer, alright? Tell me you'll remember these things."

"No."

"What the– Come on, what's wrong with you?! So RUDE! Get over yourself!" Carbuncle turned on her heel and stalked away. "One day, you're gonna be all alone because you never talk to anyone! And then everyone will forget about you _because_ you're all alone! And then you'll DIE!" Carbuncle paused her tirade, still huffing and puffing indignantly. She had put a good fifteen yards between herself and Odin during the short time she had spent shouting at him. "…Oh, does it seem like I'm upset? You bet your stupid muscly behind, I am!"

Odin sighed silently in exasperation. _She's gonna come back. Gonna turn around and walk her stupid ass back over here. I just know it. She's gonna come back and I'm gonna hate it, and then she'll start talking and I'll hate it even more and then I will fly away, like a Zuu, a colorful, magnificent Zuu, off into the brilliant grey surroundings where I'll never be bothered by that stupid Carbuncle ever again, and_–

"I'M STILL MAD AT YOU I HOPE YOU KNOW!"

Sleipnir whinnied in annoyance and bucked violently. Carbuncle had somehow cut the distance between her and Odin to under a yard in less than five seconds, and had been right next to the poor horse's ears when mouthing off Odin.

"I know you want to talk to me. Everyone does! You know what; everyone talks to me because they _like_ me. On the opposite side of the spectrum, no one likes you. Everyone thinks you're some sort of stoic 'badass' type who never shows his feelings. But I know you! You and me, we're buddies! You're just a big hunk of delicious friendship and love; there's no fooling me! On the outside, you're a dark, raging and warlike monster; this is the Odin everyone sees. But on the inside, you're a lovely, compassionate, and caring–"

Odin's fist met Carbuncle's head and Carbuncle went flying.

"YEEEOW! Owowowowowow!"

Sleipnir's ears flicked in amusement, and Odin nudged the horse's flanks, encouraging the horse to put distance between them and the temporarily incapacitated eidolon.

* * *

"Psst! Hey Shiva!"

"Yes?" Shiva looked up and saw a bruised Carbuncle floating unhappily towards her.

"You know who I hate?"

Shiva had to laugh; she couldn't help herself. "You? You hate someone? I am incredulous!"

"No, I'm being serious! I hate him with every ounce of my being! I haaaatehatehatehate him and I will continue to hate him until he APOLOGIZES!" Carbuncle directed her last word in Odin's direction; he was quite a ways away, sitting next to a hunkered down Sleipnir. It looked like he was petting the armored horse.

"Let me guess. Is it Odin?"

"Yes! I despise him! I _loathe_ him! I can't stand the sight of his stupid behind!"

"He's a tough one, that's for sure. Really dark and emo."

"I was complimenting him, and he hit me! Can you believe that? Domestic freaking violence, Shiva! I was _complimenting him!_ Who gets mad at compliments? No one, right?" Carbuncle looked at Shiva for reassurance.

"Well, obviously he does."

Carbuncle's tail seemed to be making erratic slashing motions as she observed the lone rider in the distance. "I don't get it. I don't understand his behavior," she paused, pouting. Her eyes narrowed. "But I do understand why I hate him. I hate him because he's mean! A mean, awful, ungrateful–"

"Asshole," Shiva completed.

"Yeah! He's that! A dumb, hurtful, meaningless, good-for-nothing, brainless–"

"Prick."

Carbuncle nodded her head vigorously. "He's so self-centered. Riding around on his horse as if he's a king or something; but no! He's no king. He's just a big waste of space disguised as an eidolon! _No one_ likes him."

"Agreed."

"You know what else he is? He's a stuck-up, horrible smelling, narcissistic–"

"Empty ballsack."

"Whoa, that's a new one."

Shiva smirked and folded her arms. "When you spend a lot of time keeping a watchful eye on Zidane to make sure he doesn't seduce our beloved Sarah, you pick up on these kinds of things." She shrugged, and glanced at Odin before returning her gaze to Carbuncle. "He'll open up some day. Just leave him alone for now."

"No he won't! He'll _never _change; not in a thousand years!"

A sigh escaped from Shiva's lips. "Well, he's not exactly a forgettable character, so as long as he manages to remain memorable to the people of Gaia, I think he has ample time to turn around. You can't force these kinds of things, remember?"

Carbuncle nodded dejectedly. She sat down and allowed Shiva to pat her head. "I just wanted to help…"

"You don't know what's best for everyone, even if you have good intentions at heart," Shiva said. "All you can do is let them know you're available if they want to talk."

Scarcely a second passed after Shiva gave her opinion on the matter when a third voice joined the conversation. "Oho, giving some counseling, dear Shiva?" Ramuh strode happily over to the two with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh shut up," Shiva rolled her eyes.

The three eidolons looked at Odin, who was surrounded by an aura of darkness, yet seemed oddly at peace. If one squinted hard enough, they would just be able to make out the slight movement of his lips as he patted Sleipnir. For an eidolon that carried the title of "The Wielder of Zantetsuken", he didn't seem too bad.

"…A right ol' proper stud, ain't he?" Ramuh winked.

"What the heck?!" Shiva kicked the elderly eidolon in the shin.

"Ouch! Hey, what? I'm telling the truth!"

"Comment one more time about Odin's looks and I'll throw up in your mouth, you old codger," Shiva said.

Ramuh shrugged. "Just saying he has a lot of muscles, that's all. Rippling all over his body and stuff. Like a sea of profound strength; flowing beautifully while instilling fear in ones who call him their enemy. Blunt, yet poetic. I used to be that buff too, you know. And then I grew a beard."

"It's almost like you're trying to win a contest for beard length or something," Shiva said sardonically.

"Fear the beard, woman. Fear the beard."

Carbuncle was still looking at Odin while Ramuh and Shiva continued their banter. Suddenly, a smile began tugging at the corners of her mouth. She started giggling, and then burst out into laughter. It was a pleasant sound, like the peaceful, yet energetic babble of a springtime brook. "Imagine Odin with a beard as long as Ramuh's," she got out, before being overtaken by a fit of giggles.

"…That just might be the nastiest thing I've ever heard." Shiva shook her head, but couldn't help a smile from coming to her face.

* * *

Odin could hear Carbuncle laughing. _It's a nice sound. Much better than hearing her talk. _He cracked his neck. _I feel a little bad for punching her. …Not gonna apologize though. She deserved it._ He leaned his back against Sleipnir and closed his eyes, falling asleep to the sound of Carbuncle's tinkling laughter.

_It's a nice sound…_


	4. Maybe!

**A/N:** _Hello! It's been a little while since I last updated this, and seeing as how my chapters are all really short, I don't really have an excuse for you ._. Don't worry though! I'm trying my best to keep this story moving. Thanks to everyone who reads this; just knowing that people are taking the time out of their day to read a story that I've written feels amazing, not gonna lie. If you feel so inclined, please review! It means a lot to me!_

_But anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. At first, I didn't want to include it at all since it kind of felt like the last thing eidolons would think of doing, but whatever. I won't include any more of this if you guys disagree with it; I find it hard as balls to write this kind of stuff lol._

* * *

"You and me; us fire types have gotta stick together."

Phoenix looked at him warily. This didn't sound good at all.

"You know how the others look at us. They may not control fire like we do, but all of them have that same fiery jealousy burning in their eyes," he said. He nodded sagaciously before continuing. "Everyone envies us."

"And where did you gather such information?" Phoenix sighed. Humoring the other fiery eidolon was probably a bad idea, but she knew he'd keep pestering her until she responded to his attempts at starting a conversation.

Ifrit smiled a toothy grin and beat his chest. "Where, you ask? All you have to do is have some intuition and common sense." He gestured at the other eidolons that were all sleeping a little distance away. "Look at all of them! Just look! Look at how they wrinkle their brows in their sleep! Jealousy, I tell you."

"I fail to see how Carbuncle falling asleep mid-sneeze makes her jealous."

Ifrit pouted. "You're being unreasonable here, ya stupid bird. I told you to look at them! Look at them _carefully!_" He stalked over to where Bahamut was curled up. "Take, for example, this guy. He always wanted to have power over fire, but he's stuck with his silly impersonation of it. The flames that come out of his mouth? Fake! All of it; fake!"

"Try not to wake him up…"

But Ifrit wasn't done. "And look at how he snorts smoke out of his nostrils. His nostrils… They're angry! Look at them convulsing, like some crazed Gaian polka dancer." He paused, scratching his head. "You know, Bahamut's nostrils are actually kind of gross, if you look closely enough."

"Good God, Ifrit. What's your point?"

The muscled beast turned towards Phoenix. His eyes were unreadable, yet she could feel the beginnings of a mad plan starting to unravel. If her instincts were correct, she was about to be caught up in something she didn't want anything to do with.

"I'm just sayin' that we should team up! Fire plus fire equals more fire!"

Phoenix was wary. If that was all that he wanted, she could deal with that, but there were some things she needed to know. "If, hypothetically, we were to 'team up' as you say, what exactly would we do?"

Ifrit laughed. "Hell, we could do all sorts of things!"

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"Well, what does it matter? All that matters is that we'd be partners. Sounds good, don't it?"

If Phoenix were honest with herself, becoming partners with a creature as beastly and crude as Ifrit was the furthest thing from "good" that she could come up with. He was vulgar and violent, and she was polite and peaceful. Maybe he wanted to balance himself out with someone who he could connect with? After all, her flames had the capability of producing as much heat as hell's guardian himself; who else would he be able to open up to? Maybe, just maybe, if she agreed to his demands, he'd begin to mellow out. She'd be doing everyone else a favor, and if it meant dealing with an unruly fellow eidolon for a little while, she wouldn't mind.

…However, there was a nagging feeling in her gut. What if he was trying to use her? She didn't put it past him to pull a fast ball. The king of hell didn't hold his title for no reason.

Or maybe there was something else? He was a mischievous character; that much was obvious. Everything about him screamed "Don't trust him! He's gonna use you, and then he's gonna… Well, I dunno what he's gonna do, but you're not gonna like it! That's for sure!" and every memory she had of him was stained with his uncaring personality. But she always felt that beneath the hardened exterior, he had a good side (no matter how small) in him, hiding cautiously like a small, bullied youth.

So maybe it was something else. If he wasn't trying to use her, and if he wasn't trying to undergo some serious self-reformation, what did he have to gain from being a "partner" with her? Was he asking to be friends? And if he was, why would he need to ask her? She got along well with everyone; she was used to the other eidolons coming to her to have a nice, peaceful chat about different subjects (although it usually gravitated towards gossip about their respective summoners).

_What could he be planning…?_

He could be thinking of anything. His intentions were as shady as the mane that covered his nape. She shouldn't trust him; that was what her whole body screamed. He would do something that she would never be able to unsee, and she'd hate herself for going along with his dumb plans. What good could come out of "teaming up" with him anyway?

…_Well, there's the off-chance that he wants to look at me as a role model for turning over a new leaf…_

That was impossible though. Who, Ifrit changing? That was about as plausible as Zidane falling in love with Eiko.

"What the hell, woman. It shouldn't take you this long to respond."

_Uhh, whoops. Looks like he's mad now._

"I was thinking," she replied lamely.

He grumbled. "Whatever. If you don't wanna be partners, fine then. I'll find someone else." He crossed his arms. "Double fire though; doesn't that sound cool to you? We gotta stick together! They're all jealous, and violent, but if we have the combined power of our fires, we should be able to fend them off!"

_Okay, maybe he's just paranoid._

"We'd look good together! You know?"

"No, I don't know." She had a bad feeling about the direction of the conversation.

Ifrit frowned. "Whaddya mean? We'd mix the best things about fire together! My fire is strong! Your fire is–"

"You're saying I'm weak?"

"Nononononono I'm not saying that!"

Phoenix rolled her eyes. Why she wasted time worrying about his motives was a mystery to her. So much for the deep personality analysis.

"Look, come on Phoenix! We'd… Uhh…"

"What are you doing? Confessing your feelings or some shit?" Shiva yawned. "Phoenix isn't interested."

Ifrit gawped. Shiva had been still as a stone just a second prior; it was obvious that her sudden intrusion into the conversation rocked Ifrit's train of thought. "Wh-What?! I-I'm doing no such thing! What the hell, you stupid pixie, you pathetic nymph! Go back to sleep!"

Phoenix was completely confused. She had never thought of that before. Ifrit… Ifrit _liked_ her? She could feel herself blushing.

_That's so… That's just so..._

Shiva yawned again. "You poor, love-stricken ass. Phoenix is gonna break your heart, just you wait."

"Holy balls, do you have a death wish?!" Ifrit charged the smaller eidolon with his arms outstretched. Shiva casually sidestepped his charge and dealt a bone-crushing kick to his head. He went down without a sound.

Phoenix stared at the motionless figure. "…He woke me up to tell me _that_?"

Shiva shrugged. "I think he's been after you for a quite some time. A while ago, he said something about how we'd be jealous of you two or something."

_What? So everyone knows except for me?_

"I guess you aren't that good at detecting advances from people, huh," Shiva said.

"Hey! How am I supposed to know he was suggesting such a thing?" She beat her wings in frustration. "I'm an eidolon! Eidolons don't have relationships!"

"You exist, don't you? If you exist, you can do whatever the hell you want. You just have to come up with the ideas to implement in the first place."

"…But, but that's not how it works."

Shiva cocked her head, silently staring at the only other conscious eidolon. She narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you actually like the insolent brute…"

Phoenix gasped. And blushed. But since the vast majority of her feathers were red in the first place, Shiva didn't notice. "No! No I don't! That's crazy!"

Shiva turned away. "Whatever. Not my business." She laid down and promptly fell asleep.

Phoenix huffed. There was no way she liked Ifrit back! He didn't even confirm it himself; Shiva was probably just over-eager in her methods of stoking Ifrit's anger. And even if it turned out that the insufferable beast did indeed have feelings for her – Oh lord how scandalous! – she'd continue her existence as normal, and heed Eiko's calls for as long as she was needed. Eidolons weren't meant to have relationships.

…Or were they? The bird-like eidolon tittered. Would a romantic "partnership" with Ifrit really be all that bad?

She thought to herself for a while.

Weapons of war were allowed to have relationships, right? She shook her head and sighed. Maybe she was just enamored by the concept of defying the inevitable; if an eidolon were to be in a relationship, it'd undoubtedly fall apart after their legends deemed the connection unnecessary. How cruel the world was!

_Everyone's deserving of love! It doesn't have to be restricted to Gaian life forms!_

Was she even a life form though? She was created from a legend about a mystical bird. How could that be considered life? She had no childhood, no aspects of growth that she could cling to, and ultimately, she had no true control over her thoughts. They could be predetermined thoughts programmed into her by the now-deceased summoning tribe for all she knew.

Maybe, if they weren't eidolons and were just some little kids running around Gaia, she might've accepted Ifrit's request. But they _were_ eidolons. They had no control over their fate, and any attempt in wresting control of their fates from their creators would end in a predictable and crushing defeat. She didn't hold a grudge against Eiko for it; it was just the way things were.

"If only…" she could hear herself muttering.

…

_Wait. I'm not saying I like Ifrit back! Dammit I don't mean that at all!_

She shook off the disgusting warm feeling that began to grow in her core. If he really wanted to be "partners" with her, he'd have to woo her like no other being had wooed another before! She harrumphed triumphantly, and nestled down to nap like everyone else. Spying Ifrit's form out of the corner of her half-closed eye, she giggled. He was ugly, vulgar, and violent, (and quite unconscious at the moment) but maybe there was more to him than that. He had the courage to approach her in the first place, didn't he? Ifrit had always been the confidently brash balls-to-the-wall kind of character.

_This feels like a cheesy romantic play that Tantalus would perform in their free time._ Phoenix lowered her head and closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.


	5. Flashback: Swap

**A/N:** _Sorry for the long wait! I had a bit of writer's block and couldn't get myself to write anything for a little while. I came up with this not too long ago; I hope I fleshed it out well enough for you. Be warned, there's a heck of a lot of point-of-view transitions in this chapter. I tried to make it less confusing, but I honestly have no idea if it is or if it isn't. Just leave me a review or a PM if you have any feedback or constructive criticism to give on the subject of point-of-view transitions (or anything that'll help me improve my writing). Every review helps! You have no idea how much those reviews mean to me. Thanks for the feedback so far! You guys are the best. :3_

_Well, I hope you enjoy. I'll try my best to get the next chapter out sooner than a month from now lol :P_

* * *

_Who, me? They're talking about me? _ He could hear voices. They were saying things about him.

"Yeah, I dunno. He's just been sitting there for the past hour, staring. Kinda creepy, if you ask me."

_Huh._

"Tried waking him up?" a soft, pleasant voice asked.

"You have no idea. Spent the better part of the last ten minutes or so just breathing in his face to see if he'd recoil from the stink."

_What. That's gross._

"…Wow. Brutal."

"And he didn't move a muscle. Freaky, eh?"

_I'm… Freaky? …I don't think I want to be freaky._

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see if he wakes up from his stupor."

"Yeah, no use just standing around here."

"Fenrir's gonna be upset." He could sense an almost-urgent undercurrent flowing through the pleasant voice.

"Ya think? Betcha ten gil he's gonna blow some shit up. Tornadoes are gonna be _everywhere_."

_That name… Fenrir?_ It seemed familiar.

"It's actually a bit touching how much he cares for him. …I'm worried about how he's going to take it though."

"Oh, there's your mother-hen nature stepping in, huh?" A snort. "Guess you can't help it; you're pretty much an overgrown chocobo, after all."

"…"

"Whaaat? I was joking!"

"Whatever." The pleasant voice didn't seem to be irritated at all.

"…They have a kinda weird relationship though. They could probably make a sandstorm or somethin' if they combined powers."

"You know, that'd be pretty cool to watch."

_I don't… remember…_

* * *

"Titan. Cut it out. This isn't funny."

_Huh? Hey, that's my name! _ It _was_ his name. Titan. It sounded strong; like a raging colossus dealing crushing blows to whoever got in his way. He didn't feel like a Titan though, more like a Herbert or a Calvin. Those sounded like some pretty diminished names to him, names befitting of a frog or a mouse, and ones that would fit his current state of mind perfectly.

"Stop playing around! I mean it!"

_I'm not playing though… I don't understand. _Why was everyone so demanding of him? The first few voices wanted him to wake up, and this one wanted him to stop "playing around". What, did they expect him to just magically wake up one moment and be able to answer all their questions? Fat chance. Not that long ago, he was having trouble stringing together singular thoughts in his , he'd be lying if he said he wanted the voices to go away; they seemed to anchor him to this dimension. They kept him from floating off. To say that he appreciated the efforts of the voices was an understatement because knowing that there were existing beings that cared for his awakening meant the world to him.

But it would be so easy to leave. To just float off and never come back, fly into the unconscious unknown… A simple task; one that would require little to no effort from him. What required effort was the painstaking process of searching his mind for memories; any at all. Anything to solidify these voices' confidence in his past, anything that would jolt him back to reality. It was much more difficult than expected, and the ever-looming worry of coming to the realization that the voices speaking to him were simply figments of his imagination provided endless amounts of pressure and stress.

And yet, he still chose to attempt the process of memory retrieval. It was weird, to say the least; he didn't feel like someone who was always motivated. Maybe in his past, he'd been a hard worker. One who never shirked his duties and one who always chose the hardest tasks. Currently, he hated exerting his mind if only because he knew there was an undeniably large chance that everything would end in naught.

"Titan. Titan, please." The voice brought him back to the present.

_Huh?_

"Okay, okay you win. I'll leave. If you want alone time, you'll get alone time."

_But… But I… Aww, come on._

* * *

"Hey, ready to talk to me now? Done moping?" The same voice from before. Even though the words themselves had some negative connotation behind them, the voice didn't have any hint of malice at all. It seemed pitiful, even.

_I didn't want you to leave in the first place._

"What the hell. Stop it with this silent treatment stuff."

_I'm trying. I can't talk, okay? I don't even remember who you are._

"…Okay, what did I do?"

_What?_

"My God, what is it?! Did something happen to you? Someone smash you during a summoning?"

_Summoning. Hmm. _ Another familiar word. Another sense of déjà vu. He hated that feeling. Whenever something felt familiar, it gave him further evidence that he had some memories locked away, dancing just out of his reach. He had an inkling that he'd never find them. Perhaps the key was thrown away.

"Just tell me who did it, and I'll kill them. I'll gouge their damn eyes out and make them wish they never existed."

_I don't… What?! No, I don't want that! Nothing happened to me; I'm here, I'm fine. I just, well, I…_

He didn't know. How would he be able to explain that he remembered pretty much nothing? How would he be able to explain the fact that he could only hear and not see? Killing someone would not change the problem at all; in fact, it had the potential to make it worse.

"Just say something. Talk to me."

_I told you already, I'm trying! Can't you see that?_

"I'm here for you, okay? I always have been; always will be."

…_That's nice to know._

"Titan. Titan, please."

_Wait, what?_

"I mean it."

…_You sound sad._

"Goddamn it Titan! God fucking dammit!"

_Don't cry. Please don't cry._

"You know what I thought? I thought they were kidding!"

…

"I thought they were just trying to play around with me! Ifrit's always like that."

…

For a moment, the talking stopped. It could have been a minute; maybe longer. He couldn't tell. All he could hear was the ragged, choked breathing of the voice.

"It's something serious, isn't it?" Barely a whisper. "Someone's gone and messed with your legend, haven't they?"

_Wait a minute… Wait._ He could feel a sinister prickling deep in his consciousness. _Legends?_

"Oh no. Please tell me they didn't."

_I'm… A legend?_

"THEY HAVE, THE BASTARDS! THEY JUST WENT AND CHANGED YOU!" The voice was furious; agonizingly so. He could tell it had something to do with him. "I'LL DESTROY THEM. I SWEAR; I'LL WIPE OUT EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!"

The truth hit him like a fully-grown Silver Dragon flying at top speed.

_Wait… I'm not a legend. No, I'm an eidolon._

* * *

"Holy balls dude, Fenrir's pissed."

"Shut up, he's going through something really tough right now."

"Whoa there, Phoenix! That was the first time I heard you say 'shut up'! Good job; you're breakin' outta your shell of aversion towards being verbally abusive!" But even Ifrit's jabs lacked the heat they usually held.

"God. You never learn, do you?" Phoenix ruffled her wings and sighed.

"Nope, never have, never will. None of us went to 'school', if that's what you're implying. You're not pullin' any fast balls on me, no sirree!" Ifrit laughed half-heartedly. "Ya thought ya got me there, didn'tcha?"

If he was expecting a response, he got none.

"Hey, I was just trying to lighten the mood."

Phoenix covered herself with her wings. The air felt cold.

"…Dammit man, this sucks."

* * *

"There doesn't seem to be any other explanation," Ramuh muttered. Titan hadn't moved or responded to any external stimuli for the past thirty hours or so. He'd only witnessed this one other time, and that was when Shiva had undergone a change in her legend. She used to be a tiny fairy; now she took the form of a tall, graceful, full-grown one. Some called it "growing up". But for eidolons, the changing-legend phenomenon didn't follow the logical progression of maturation, increasing height, body development, or any of the other aspects that characterized growth. If the legend changed, the physique of the designated eidolon was one of the first noticeable differences one would be able to notice. The eidolon also had the chance of becoming more mature as well. However, there was the chance that the legend could force an eidolon to become less mature, the personality could change radically, and there was a chance that all of the memories from before would be forgotten with no hope of retrieval.

Ramuh often compared it to soul-switching; born into the same role with a different soul. But they were eidolons. They didn't have souls. They were just weapons of war that had songs dedicated to them.

It was depressing. Ramuh hated thinking about his existence this way, but there really wasn't any other logical truth. They had no control over their future; they were slaves to the almighty tribe of summoners. Titan's state of stasis brought that harsh reality back to the forefront of everyone's mind with a vicious kick.

"How do you think he's going to change?"

Ramuh was jolted out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw Bahamut, drifting towards him. He scratched his beard and sighed; nothing ever granted them a position of power when their adversaries were the ones who created them. "I really have no idea. There's no way to say until he shows us himself." He shook his head sadly. "Poor Fenrir."

"He'll get over it. I'm more concerned about Titan's new personality. He was fine as he was before; if we get another Ifrit or another Leviathan, I'm not sure I'll be able to take it." The dragon muttered a curse under his breath. "Those summoners. Always using us as they please." He laughed to himself. "Destruction isn't even interesting anymore."

The lightning eidolon raised an eyebrow. "Really now? Last time you were summoned, you went a little overboard with the fireballs."

"All just for show. Not much fun in destroying things when you figure out you're just a pawn." Bahamut grunted. "Nothing we can do about it though."

"Playing the role of the world-weary realist, I see."

"There's no other role to play."

A blanket of silence descended upon the pair of conversing eidolons.

* * *

He was starting to feel uncomfortable; the amount of "his past" that was being shared with him made him feel like he was looking into someone else's private memories. _No, I don't remember!_ He would shout after a memory was recounted, but Fenrir was unable to hear him. _That wasn't me! That was someone else!_

It was disturbing, to say the least; knowing that he used to be someone else, but was changed due to the nature of being an eidolon. It was tough to take in all at once. Every ounce of his being wanted Fenrir to shut up. The memories were too much. They weren't even him! _Stop telling me about the Titan I know I'm not!_

But then he'd hear the emotion in Fenrir's voice. Every recounted memory gave the voice a pitch of sadness, joy, and everything in-between. What was most heart-wrenching was the hope he could hear; it snuck into every syllable, found its way into every exclamation and every softly-spoken statement. He knew he wouldn't be able to remember, but the hope in Fenrir's voice wanted him so desperately to recall everything. So he tried anyway. That insistent, despairing emotion that forced him to return to the darkest muddled recesses of his mind; hope was a powerful thing.

It was useless, though. No matter how hard he strained his consciousness for any sort of clue to regain his memories, his mind would shut him out and even the things that used to provide him with vivid reminders of his past began to fade.

_Why?_

Why did his legend have to be changed? Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't he remember, why couldn't he talk, why couldn't he be confident in himself and his past, why, why, why…

What the hell was he even here for? He didn't want to unleash havoc on anyone or anything. He just wanted to talk, to remember. He wanted to confront the summoner tribe and ask them to refrain from changing any other eidolons' legends. All that was wishful thinking, though. There would never be a time when the summoners saw the eidolons as equals. The only thing that could bring the summoners down to the level of the eidolons was death, and if the whole summoning tribe died out, so would the eidolons. It was a lose-lose situation, and Titan knew it better than anyone.

Fenrir was still talking; still telling him stories. The friendly eidolon was trying his best to bring back Titan's memories, but it was in vain. Trying his best to grasp the points Fenrir was making, Titan listened as intently as he could, but he could never shake the feeling of despair. It ate at him with every "Remember that?" that Fenrir uttered, and every "Man, I miss the good ol' days" that hinted at a better past.

Titan had never felt so alone.


End file.
